ENMU names Fite for AD position

Eastern New Mexico University has selected Kevin Fite as its next athletic director, the school announced in a release on Thursday. He is scheduled to begin his new duties on July 1.

Fite, who spent the last 13 years as the senior associate athletics director for compliance at Oklahoma State. He brings nearly 35 years of athletic administrative experience from Oklahoma State, Houston and the NCAA national office.

ENMU began the search for a permanent AD after Paul Weir resigned in October and accepted a position as deputy athletic director and chief operation office at Abilene Christian. Associate AD Michael Molina has been filling in since then as the interim athletic director.

“I’m excited to accept the position of director of athletics at Eastern New Mexico University, and can’t wait to get started,” Fite said in the release. “I knew I wanted to be a part of what is happening at ENMU and what will happen in the future.”

Prior to his time at Oklahoma State, Fite was the associated athletics director for compliance and eligibility at the University of Houston. His held several positions within the NCAA offices in Indianapolis, including as an enforcement representative and student-athlete reinstatement representative.

Fite started his career as an assistant director/eligibility manager in academic services for student-athletes at Oklahoma State.

“After a national search that yielded a strong finalist pool, Kevin Fite rose to the top,” ENMU chancellor James Johnston said. “He comes to ENMU with a breadth of expertise, experience and leadership skills that will greatly add to my leadership team. I’m excited for him to join the Greyhound family.”

Three headed to national meet – Three members of the ENMU track squad have been chosen to compete in this week’s NCAA Division II national outdoor meet at Emporia, Kan.

Freshman Grizell Scarlett will represent ENMU’s women in the 100-meter dash, while junior Timothy Frederick (200) and sophomore Alex Williams (javelin) were chosen from the men’s team.

Grizzell, from Kingston, Jamaica, is coming off a victory in last weekend’s Lone Star Conference championships at San Angelo, Texas, where she broke the meet record with a time of 11.33 seconds. Earlier, she was ninth in the NCAA Division II national indoor meet after running a time of 7.46 seconds.

The 100 preliminaries are scheduled for 5:25 p.m. (MDT) on Thursday, with the finals at 2:35 p.m. (MDT) on Saturday.

Frederick, from La Brea, Trinidad and Tobago, finished 18th (47.82) in last year’s D-II outdoor 400. competes at 4:30 p.m. (MDT) on Thursday, looking to advance to Saturday’s 3:40 p.m. (MDT) finals.

He comes in with the No. 7 time in D-II, a 20.72 clocking in the season’s second meet, the Willie Williams Classic in late March, at Tucson, Ariz.

Willliams, also from Kingston, competes in javelin at 9:30 a.m. (MDT) on Saturday looking to improve on a 17th-place finish (197 feet, 4 inches) in last year’s outdoor nationals. His personal-best throw this spring was 219-6 at the University of Oklahoma’s John Jacobs Invitational in April.

Women’s basketball announces 10 signees – Second-year ENMU women’s basketball coach Blake Huber has announced the signing of 10 prospects to national letters of intent for the 2024-25 campaign, including six upperclassmen.

The transfers include 5-foot-9 senior guard Leianya Massenat (Georgia Southwestern), 5-11 senior guard Jayla Smith (Delta State), 6-3 senior forward Vitoria Carvalho (Tarleton State), 6-2 junior forward Niyah Johnson (McLennan CC), 5-8 junior guard Nataya Lockett (Pensacola State JC) and 5-10 junior guard Merveille Nkoyock (Independence CC). Smith was a teammate of Hounds senior-to-be Ishuana Hunter at Labette (Kan.) CC.

Incoming freshmen are 5-9 guard Victoria Barrera, Amarillo H.S.; 6-1 forward Kaitlyn Edmondson, Flower Mound (Texas) H.S., and 5-8 guards Abbi Holder, Frenship H.S, and tonka Jaksic (Zagreb, Croatia).

“I’m beyond excited about this signing class and all the high-character athletes we have coming in,” Huber said. “Pretty much all the players we have signed have won championships at some level and all have different skill sets that will help our team win.

“We knew we had to get bigger at every position and that’s something that was a priority for us in our recruiting process.”

The Hounds were 11-17 in 2023-24, including 7-15 in the LSC.